The Other Side Of Me

Hi everyone! I hope you're all well and getting plenty of time to craft - whatever form that takes!  I was invited to do a demonstration of art journaling to my church group on Wednesday night.  I wasn't nervous but I didn't expect people to think much of my paltry efforts, but actually when I explained what had lead me to make each one, they were very well received.  I demonstrated different inks and what they do, plus masks, spray inks etc and everyone really seemed to enjoy it. I've noticed in my own crafting a shift in style recently too.  I think I've been influenced by Project Life and some of the funkier designs around at the moment.  Because I work in a care home and mainly make cards for the residents there, they tend to be very pretty and nearly always have some kind of flowers on them.  But there is another side of me that's really appreciating some of the more funky creations I'm seeing on Pinterest recently. This has been reflected in my own...

I'm really enjoying my 6x8 album now and getting into the swing of things.  I can't believe how much dsp you use up by doing this (which gives me the perfect excuse to go and buy some more!) I've been able to make use of the old, but beautiful Spice Cake papers by Stampin Up, and this way I get to keep them! Have a look: The colour scheme is Pool Party, More Mustard, Soft Suede and Very Vanilla, so I've interspersed the patterened papers with plain matching cardstock. My camera is never far from my side these days, and a visit to the grandchildren reaped some great photos that I had to add to my album.  The stickers are all from October Afternoon, which are becoming increasingly difficult to get hold of in the UK and I absolutely adore them. The little wooden frame was a find in T K Maxx.  I go in there every week now and always come out with some treasure! This folder isn't all about photos, though, as I love to journal as well, and I love fun and innova...

Helloooo!  I know you probably think I'm not blogging, but October was mostly involved with blogging about our holiday in Paris here http://artsafantasy.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/paris-again-part-4.html Things around here seem to be becoming very french indeed.  I am actually having french lessons and it seems to be taking over my life!  I'm really enjoying it, though. Anyway, my challenge to the card swap group for October was to make an autumn-themed card.  This is what I made for Alison: I used the Tape It stamp set again because I love it and find it so versatile.  The card base is the retired More Mustard colour, but I've still got loads of it left.  The ink spots are from French Foliage, which I stamped in More Mustard, and Cajun Craze on the white background. Once again I stamped the Tape It stamps onto spare white cardstock and cut them out, but there's no reason why you couldn't stamp directly onto the card base.  I stuck them all down s...

Oh my, I am head over heels in love with a new stamp set.  I made this card last week for a resident: This French Foliage stamp set has got to be one of the most versatile I've ever come across.  There is no limit to what you can do with it. The base card is more mustard. The next layer is very vanilla. I've stamped the script stamp in crumb cake on it, then the leaf in more mustard with early espresso rolled round the edges before stamping, which creates a fabulous effect.  I've made the tag and stamped a small section of very vanilla cardstock again.  I've used the little 'Paris' stamp on this piece and the ink blotch stamp in more mustard.  Every time I stamped something I gasped at how fab it was as it appeared on the paper.  I bet everyone who has this stamp set feels the same way about it.  It's by far the most 'artistic' set I've ever used. The tag has a button and twine at the top and a little butterfly on the sentiment o...

I'm really pleased to be joining in again with the Friday Mashup blog challenge.  This week they want us to use twine and leaves on our creations.  This is so perfect for me right now I can't begin to tell you.  Here's what I made: This card brings together so many things I've been wanting to do for a long time: The first thing is that I've wanted to use a vertical sentiment on a tag, and here it is. It's a beautiful quotation stamp and it's from Clarity Stamps.  Love it.  It's in soft suede ink, by the way. Secondly, I've wanted to use this circular die cut in some way, but have waited for the perfect moment to arrive (thanks Jo Wright!).  The dsp is more from my old favourite, Spice Cake.  The perfect time of year to be using this up. Thirdly, I've recently bought a set of leaf die cuts from Spellbinders.  Now if I'd known SU were going to bring out their fantastic set of die cuts and matching stamps I would have le...

My darling hubby bought me a subscription to Simply Cards and Papercraft magazine as a Christmas present, then not long after that I went off it (daren't tell hubby!) so I've decided I have to make the best of it and see what projects I can make out of it each month.  This is what I've made this time: I've basically cased the card from the magazine, as the original had a fairy on it, which I just couldn't do (interesting technique though it was!) but I liked the colour scheme very much, and the fact that it uses this birdcage die from Tim Holtz, which obviously I have in my possession! Let's start from the bottom and work upwards: Layer 1: 5"x7" more mustard cardstock, stamped around the edge with the Dot Dot Dot background stamp in white ink. Layer 2: Papers from the Prima Botanical paper stack that was free with the magazine.  The edges were distressed.  You can't really see, but the bottom edge of the top paper is cut along with the M...

And the colour is... Yellow! Fortunately for me, yellow is a colour I am more than happy to footle around with (footle - technical term meaning to play, to experiement!) And so, this is my card for this week's Less Is More challenge: This is another of those cards that came to me in the middle of the night.  I decided to make it on scrap card at first to see if I liked it and to see if what was in my head actually worked on paper (not always the case) and was so pleased with it, I kept it. The stamps are from various sets, the birds are by Hobby Arts and the bird house is fairly recent and was free with a magazine.  The colours are Daffodil Delight and More Mustard. So, I stamped the bird house first and coloured it, then stamped out the birds and punched them out with my postage stamp punch.  They are the perfect size for this.  I stamped the greeting at the bottom first, then embossed a horizontal line directly above it, positioned one of the 'stamps' and...

Hi folks, hope you're having a good weekend.  I can hardly believe I'm posting again so soon, but I really wanted to get this card on before it's too late. Here are another couple of challenge blogs I've been following since just before Christmas, but I haven't had enough supplies to be able to join in.  The first one is the Colour Q challenge  which as you can see, wants us to use the colours shown in the picture, put together beautifully in the skirt.  I don't have any of the Stampin Up! In Colours yet, so this is the first time I've been able to have a go.  The second challenge blog is Freshly Made Sketches.  I saw this and wondered if I could combine the two challenges. And so here is my card: First of all, I rotated the sketch, I just couldn't work it that way up! I decided to use a kraft card base, and stamped the image (sorry I can't remember the name of it) which I'd inked up in Old Olive, Real Red and More Mustard. ...